Zhang Junlin and His "Knockoff Submarine"
Zhang Junlin and his "knockoff submarine" - "This afternoon, I drove the submarine I built myself, descending all the way to the bottom of the pond. If the pond were deeper, it could have gone down further." On September 19th, Zhang Junlin, a retired prison officer from Fuyang City, excitedly said that the submarine he had spent six years developing could dive deeper and travel farther. On that day, Zhang Junlin's self-made "tourism environmental protection submarine" underwent a diving test in Fuyang and successfully traveled for 20 minutes at a depth of nearly 4 meters underwater.
Six Years to Build a Submarine
In the family compound of the Fuyang City Prison, an abandoned pond formed by brick kiln burning became the submarine testing base for the retired prison officer Zhang Junlin. The reporter saw that the submarine Zhang Junlin developed was about 4 meters long, with two rows of seats inside the cabin. The driver sits in the front row to operate, and there is space behind for two more people.
"These parts are all welded by me personally, and most of the accessories are collected from the second-hand car market," Zhang Junlin said. His submarine weighs over a ton, and its shell is made of steel plates 3 centimeters thick welded together. The working place was a repair shop near his home.
According to Zhang Junlin, the submarine is divided into the front water tank, middle seat cabin, rear water tank, and observation cabin. Inside, there are propellers, air compressors, high-pressure intake and exhaust branch pipes, inlet and outlet water pipes, as well as batteries. "Many specialized devices couldn't be bought, so they were made using local methods. The battery is a car battery."
Zhang Junlin said that he initially tried to make an airplane but failed. Later, he started making a "knockoff submarine," which kept him busy for over six years.
Excitement of Seeing Fish at the Bottom of the Pond
"I kept descending to the bottom of the pond, seeing small fish near the glass window, which was very exciting," Zhang Junlin told the reporter last night. "It feels a bit stuffy inside the underwater cabin, but otherwise, there’s no other feeling." Two metal pipes above the submarine are the circulating ventilation pipes; if there were oxygen tanks, these pipes wouldn't be needed.
How does this one-ton-plus "knockoff submarine" achieve submersion? Zhang Junlin introduced that he used the air pressure adjustment method. When submerging, the exhaust valve and water valve switch are opened to extract the air from the front and rear water tanks, allowing water to automatically flow into the tanks, increasing the weight, causing the submarine to sink. When surfacing, the exhaust valve is closed, the intake valve switch is opened, and the air compressor injects high-pressure gas into the front and rear water tanks or quickly injects extracted high-pressure gas into the tanks, expelling the water and reducing the weight of the submarine, allowing it to float to the surface automatically.
Zhang Junlin told reporters that when moving forward, the motor drives the propeller to rotate forward, driving the submarine forward; when reversing, the motor drives the propeller to rotate backward, driving the submarine backward; during turns, either side wing's propeller can be arbitrarily shut down to implement left or right turns.
20 Minutes Witnessing a Feat
"This morning, during the submersion test, due to equipment issues, the first dive wasn't successful," Zhang Junlin told reporters on September 19th. After the submarine descended, the propeller got tangled in aquatic plants, and the wires were old, leading to failure. Subsequently, he immediately inspected the equipment.
At around 4 p.m. yesterday, the submarine was tested again. According to eyewitnesses, they saw the submarine slowly sinking. Later, only the metal pipe sticking out of the water could be seen. Since the metal pipe has marked scale lines, everyone could see the submarine descend to close to 4 meters before starting to move forward underwater.
During the submarine's movement, personnel on shore could initially communicate with Zhang Junlin via phone, but later found the signal poor, so they switched to using walkie-talkies to communicate with Zhang Junlin, commanding him to operate the submarine to ascend or descend. After 20 minutes, Zhang Junlin successfully reached the shore.
Desire to Let Tourists See the Underwater World
According to Zhang Junlin, in 2004, he went to Qingdao for sightseeing and saw various sightseeing yachts but did not find any tools for underwater sightseeing. At that time, he wanted to invent an observation submarine. After returning to Fuyang, he began drawing plans and designing. In March 2006, he started manufacturing the submarine.
In 2009, Zhang Junlin's "tourism environmental protection submarine" received a patent certificate issued by the National Intellectual Property Administration. The patent application document states: It can dive to observe fish, meeting the needs of a wide range of tourists, and can also be used for underwater photography, exploration, or executing investigation and rescue missions. "This is the first generation of submarines. The second generation, which I've already designed, can seat over 20 people, named 'Shenlong No. 1,'" Zhang Junlin said.
According to relevant regulations, apart from the power system, the submarine must also be equipped with oxygen supply, air exchange, and escape life support systems, obtain ship design and manufacturing qualifications, and undergo scientific arguments, etc. Apparently, Zhang Junlin still has a long way to go to realize his dream.
Reported by Chuan Kun and our staff reporter Wang Zhenyu, with photographs. Source: Xin'an Media Network Related theme articles